Neistat said it’s hard to define exactly what his career is and what it has become, but nonetheless, he is dedicated to his craft. The YouTube star has a detailed and complex history. After dropping out of high school as a teen to work as a dishwasher to raise his child with his friend in a trailer park, he’s come a long way from his childhood.

“For me at that time in my life, when I was trying to figure out who I was, when I was an early teenager and confused, I was always told by everyone around me I was wrong,” Neistat said of his time growing up. “Looking back, I think I was able to focus on, or still try to sublimate, what was a very negative sort of energy, a very negative aspect in my life, and turn it into something positive.”

After deciding to make movies while he washed dishes and did odd jobs to pay bills, Neistat maxed out his credit cards and bought a video camera to start on his journey into movie making.

“What I like to do is share ideas and perspectives using moving images,” Neistat said.

Casey Neistat, a video blogger on Youtube, gets ready to have a discussion with an audience at the University of North Texas. Much of Neistat’s conversation was about how the importance of failure, success and the ability to overcome obstacles throughout a hectic lifestyle. Tomas Gonzalez

Neistat’s first major success in the film industry was when he and his brother sold their TV show series “The Neistat Brothers” to HBO for close to $2 million. With such success, Neistat was only hungry for more and wanted to expand his talents far beyond just a TV show.

He said that with growth comes failure, something successful people cannot be afraid of.

“I think that the biggest successes in my life have also been my biggest failures,” Neistat said. “Failure is great. I’m not kidding, failure is wonderful.”

Neistat is now a vlogger who uploads short movies to YouTube every day, sharing his personal experiences, insights, struggles and perspectives with his audience of over 5.5 million subscribers. Along with his YouTube channel he runs, Neistat owns his own social media network, called Beme, and works with several different organizations like Nike, Samsung and Mercedes Benz to produce and develop media projects.

In his lecture, he emphasized his honesty and commitment to being true to himself and his convictions when he is on camera.

“He’s exactly as I thought he would be,” marketing freshman Jacob Morton said. “He’s very charismatic and he doesn’t really care about what’s going on.”

Morton said he dropped everything he was doing and bought a ticket right away when he heard of Neistat’s planned appearance at UNT and was appreciative of all the insight Neistat shared.

“He just had a conversation,” Morton said. “There was no script or anything.”

Brennan Dufrene, an English literature sophomore, felt similar sentiments towards the lecture. Having followed Neistat’s vlogs for around six months prior to the event, he was enthused having just met such an inspiration.

“I thought his answers challenged me,” Dufrene said. “He’s just like, ‘Just do it. You just gotta do whatever you want to do.’ You can’t stop doing, and so that’s very challenging. It makes me think about that.”

Featured Image: Casey Neistat, a video blogger on Youtube, gets ready to have a discussion with an audience at the University of North Texas. Much of Neistat’s conversation was about how the importance of failure, success and the ability to overcome obstacles throughout a hectic lifestyle. Tomas Gonzalez